Dentist Near Maple Woods

Two Places Called Maple Woods, and One Dental Office for Both

The name can be confusing, so here is the short version. The college campus and the streets around it sit in Kansas City's Northland, in Clay County. The Maple Woods Natural Area is a different place: an old-growth black maple forest inside the City of Gladstone, about 1.2 miles south of campus.

Metropolitan Community College opened its Maple Woods campus in 1969, and it is the college's northernmost location. It is known for veterinary technology, GIS and interpreting programs, and it enrolled about 4,100 students in fall 2025. Baseball fans may know that Albert Pujols played there before the 1999 MLB draft.

The forest has its own history. It was nearly turned into housing and a shopping mall in the early 1970s, until the Missouri Department of Conservation bought it in 1978; it became a designated natural area in 1980. Today it is a National Natural Landmark of about 39 acres, leased to Gladstone, with a 1.4-mile nature trail.

Whichever one you call home, our office is a short drive away. With Dr. Baumgartner in charge since 2025 and a small team beside him, you see the same doctor from one visit to the next.

Fitting Dental Care Around Classes, Shifts and Family Life

College schedules are packed, and dental care is often the first thing to slide. A missed cleaning becomes a missed year, and a tooth that was only sensitive starts to ache during finals. Because we are about 11 minutes from campus, a morning cleaning can fit between a lab and an afternoon class.

Students in their late teens and twenties are also at the age when wisdom teeth are commonly evaluated. Our 2D panoramic imaging shows the whole jaw in one picture, so Dr. Baumgartner can see how those teeth are positioned. When removal makes sense, the extraction happens in our office, with fewer appointments and fewer delays than an outside referral.

Some patients feel nervous about oral surgery, and that is normal. You can choose step-by-step explanations or a quiet appointment, and instruments stay out of view. Our comfort options for anxious patients also include anxiolytic medication when appropriate, which requires someone else to drive you home.

Dental emergencies rarely respect a syllabus. If a tooth cracks or a jaw starts swelling in the middle of the semester, new patients can book our $69 Emergency Exam & X-Ray to find the cause and hear the options. Forward-facing monitors let you see the same images Dr. Baumgartner is looking at, so the plan makes sense before anything begins.

Not everyone nearby is a student. Faculty, staff and families in the surrounding neighborhoods are welcome too. For them, the same short drive makes it easy to keep six-month cleanings on the calendar and to bring the kids along.

How a Dentist Near Maple Woods Can Help

• Wisdom Tooth Removal

  Evaluation with panoramic imaging and in-house extraction when it is needed. Planning around the academic calendar gives you time to recover between terms.

• Cosmetic Dentistry

  Brighter, more even smiles for job interviews, internships and graduation photos. We start with the most conservative option that reaches your goal.

• Emergency Dentistry

  An abscess, a broken tooth or a crown that pops off does not wait for spring break. Whenever possible, urgent concerns are treated the same day.

• Root Canal Therapy

  Deep decay or infection can often be treated while keeping the natural tooth. Root canals are done in our own office, so you are not shuffled between providers.

• Family Dentistry

  Routine exams and cleanings for faculty, staff and families living near campus, from young children to grandparents.

Whitening is one of the most common cosmetic requests from younger adults. We offer Opalescence and Opalescence Go whitening, and a quick exam first confirms that your teeth and gums are healthy enough for it.